Chinese character stroke order rules

To learn Chinese characters as effectively as possible, it’s important to get the stroke order right. As you get a feel for the correct sequence, it becomes a lot easier to memorise characters. Using the correct stroke order also helps your characters look balanced and elegant.

Here’s a set of stroke order rules to put into practice when learning to write hanzi.

1. Top to bottom

Strokes at the top of the character are written before those lower down.

三 (sān): three

立 (lì): to stand

2. Left to right

Strokes on the left should be written before strokes on the right.

八 (bā): eight

吃 (chī): to eat

3. Horizontal before vertical

Horizontal strokes (一) should be written before vertical strokes (丨).

十 (shí): ten

千 (qiān): thousand

4. Centre first in symmetrical characters

In characters with a fairly symmetrical structure, the central stroke should be written first.

小 (xiǎo): small

水 (shuǐ): water

5. Character spanning strokes last

If there is a stroke that cuts across or spans several other strokes, it should be written last.

王 (wáng): king

申 (shēn): to extend, to explain

6. Close frames last

The contents of an enclosure should be completed first, and the frame closed afterwards.

日 (rì): sun

回 (huí): to return

Summary

Top to bottom

Left to right

Horizontal before vertical

Centre first in symmetrical characters

Character spanning strokes last

Close frames last

These rules can be broken for certain characters. As you learn to write characters, these rules will become internalised until they seem totally natural. The exceptions, too, will lodge in your memory so that you won’t need to think about them consciously.